The koru, which is often used in Māori art as a symbol of creation, is based on the shape of an unfurling fern frond. Its circular shape conveys the idea of perpetual movement, and its inward coil suggests a return to the point of origin. The unwinding of the young fern also suggests new beginnings, life, and growth. source: Te Ara — The Encyclopedia of New Zealand.

More than a conference

LNE Oakland is designed to be different from any event you've attended before. Drawing inspiration from hackathons, conferences, networking events, festivals, and jams, the result is a unique event that has components of each. More than a conference, this is a convergence.

We have an exciting lineup of speakers, but you’ll do more than listen to talks. You'll meet and collaborate with other participants and launch project ideas. You'll learn about New Economy initiatives here in the Bay Area, and draw connections between them while connecting with each other.

Be part of the first of an annual event that will introduce you to new ideas and new people, and leave you inspired to co-create a new economic reality in the Bay Area and beyond.

The New Economy

At its core, the New Economy movement is an invitation into a new worldview — one where more for me is more for you, too; one where collaboration trumps competition; one where “security” is created through relationship and community rather than amassed wealth.

LNE aims to convene and support all those who might contribute to an economy that is restorative to people, place, and planet, and that operates according to principles of democracy, justice, and appropriate scale. Faced with interconnected ecological and economic crises, we believe that shared prosperity, sustainability and an equitable society require deep, systemic changes to our economy and our institutions. Something new is required. Initiatives have been springing up all over our community that aim to build that “something new” — these are the beginnings of the New Economy.

The time is now

Many people are working on components of a New Economy, but too often their efforts remain fragmented and outside the mainstream of public discourse. Out of these hundreds of efforts, a movement is emerging. We are co-creating a new story about whom the economy serves, developing solutions that reconsider “business as usual”, and engaging communities in transformational change. The New Economy movement has reached a tipping point. People are ready for something different.

Be a part of something bigger

LNE Oakland grew out of an event by the same name that began in Vancouver, Canada in 2012. This year, Oakland joins 18 cities around the world hosting a Living the New Economy event, joining the pursuit of an economy that is greener and more socially responsible, one that re-thinks the nature of ownership, and one that favors resilience and responsiveness over rapid growth. LNE Oakland is an opportunity to engage with each other, amplify our stories, and mobilize support for existing work and new collaborations.

Changemakers

We invite change makers, entrepreneurs, and community leaders who recognize the limitations of our old systems and institutions and are ready to build something new. We invite community members, artists, students, makers, and local businesses that want to learn more about the emerging New Economy and join the effort to bring it about. We invite everyone who has seen evidence of environmental destruction and community breakdown and thought, “We can do better.”

Diverse perspectives

Whether you’re interested in local food or manufacturing, co-housing, local currency, social justice, or new business and finance models, you’ll find opportunities to learn from leaders, teach each other, and find others to support your work.

This is a participatory event. You’ll be invited to do more than listen: you will help write this story. Come prepared to contribute your observations, ideas and experience to the conversation.

Speakers

Visionaries of the New Economy

Charles Eisenstein

Charles Eisenstein is an author, public speaker, and self-described "degrowth activist". He is the author of several books including The Ascent of Humanity, Sacred Economics, and The More Beautiful World Our Hearts Know Is Possible.

Ian MacKenzie

Ian MacKenzie is an award-winning filmmaker & media activist. His work has appeared in many international publications and film festivals. His focus covers a range of diverse topics & subjects, though all fall under his mission of uncovering and amplifying stories of the emerging paradigm.

Thomas H. Greco, Jr.

Thomas H. Greco, Jr. is widely regarded as a leading authority on monetary and financial innovation, and is a sought-after adviser and speaker at conferences internationally. He is the author of many books, including The End of Money and the Future of Civilization.

YaVette Holts

YaVette Holts heads up Cowrie Village, a Berkeley/Oakland initiative that challenges our attitudes about money and our reflexive reliance on dollars as the be all to having our needs met. Cowrie Village is building tools to help the East Bay redefine its wealth with three main projects: cash free barter events, the online barter utility Saltmine, and Rootical Gathering (a old fashioned gifting circle with roots in traditional sou sou).

Jenny has over eighteen years of experience as an attorney for and creator of social enterprises. She is the CEO of Cutting Edge Capital, a consulting firm that helps social ventures raise capital in alignment with their goals and values.

Executive Director, RE-volv. Andreas is a strong renewable energy supporter and the founder of RE-volv, a nonprofit organization using crowdfunding to seed a revolving fund that builds solar energy projects for community-serving organizations.

Chris Tittle

Director of Organizational Resilience, Sustainable Economies Law Center. As a writer, activist, educator, and lawyer-in-training, Chris is passionate about cultivating more democratic and place-based models for community resilience.

Crystallee Crain

Dr. Crystallee Crain is an educator, author, and entrepreneur that strives to mend the gaps of injustice within institutions and communities. Her work is national in reach, but local in its fluidity as she is based out of Oakland, CA and her hometown of Flint, Michigan. In both communities she works with families impacted by community and state violence.

Neal Gorenflo

Neal Gorenflo is the co-founder of Shareable, the award winning sharing movement nonprofit with a mission to empower everyone to share.

Brahm Ahmadi

Brahm Ahmadi is a social entrepreneur working to build healthier inner city communities through a prototype small-format fresh foods market and community center.

Ryan Terribilini

Ryan was born and raised in Stanford territory, but is a proud Cal Bear. His studies in Ancient Greek civilization miraculously led to roles in Android at Google, where he learned a thing or two about the mobile app business. On a good day you'll find him reviewing the box score of yesterday's Giants victory. Ryan is the Developer Relations Manager of RippleLab.

Edward West

Edward west is a founder of Hylo and Impact Hub Oakland. At Hylo, he is building a new kind of social network that helps real communities create, together.

Janelle Orsi

Executive Director, Sustainable Economies Law Center. Janelle is a lawyer, advocate, writer, and cartoonist focused on creating a more just and equitable world through cooperatives, sharing, urban agriculture, shared housing, local currencies, and community-supported enterprises.

Zachary Norris

Zachary Norris is the Executive Director of the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights and a former director of the Books Not Bars campaign. Prior to rejoining the organization, Zachary founded and co-directed Justice for Families, a national alliance of family-driven organizations working to end our nation’s youth incarceration epidemic.

Konda Mason

Konda is Co-Director and CEO of Impact Hub Oakland. Konda honed her business leadership skills as a Grammy winning artist manager in London, an Academy Award nominated film producer in Hollywood, and an Off Broadway hit theater producer in New York…just to name a few.

Martin Adams

Inspired to live in a world where everyone thrives, Martin is writing a manifesto on a new economic system called “Unitism”. His previous book “Land: A New Paradigm for a Thriving World” will be published by North Atlantic Books in 2015.

Sarah Filley

Sarah Filley is Cofounder and Executive Director of Popuphood and Chief Marketing Officer for OppSites. She is a local economic development strategist, and public speaker on urban innovation, creative placemaking and retail trends.

Dan Robles

Dan Robles is the Director of The Ingenesist Project and pioneer of alternate economic systems. He is a licensed Professional Engineer and holds an MBA in International Business.

Rebecca Kaplan

Rebecca Kaplan is your city councilmember. Elected in 2008 and re-elected in 2012 as councilmember at-large, she represents all of Oakland. Before joining the City Council, she served as your elected director on the AC Transit board and worked as housing rights attorney in Oakland.

Ben Werner

Ben Werner is an entrepreneur in the field of sustainability, focusing in the (re)integration of human culture with ecological systems. As a co-director of Sama Group, Ben is leading a Food Independence Co-Operative, which is enabled by a community currency called the Santa Barbara “Missions”.

Lisa Paloma Abregu

Paloma is the founder of Saphichay, an indigenous rights and ancestral reconnection organization with hubs in Peru and California. Paloma’s work is focused on keeping traditional practices alive & bridging mestizo and indigenous communities in order to support the survival of indigenous communities.

Rani Croager

Rani Croager is co-founder of Uptima Business Bootcamp, a member-owned business accelerator based in Oakland. Uptima supports entrepreneurs in lauching, going to market, funding and scaling their businesses, and encourages them to think holistically about the role of their business in the community.

Jeffery Smith

Jeffery Smith edits The Progress Report and was a regular contributor at TruthOut. Testified before the Russian Duma and the Madame Senator who became Taiwan's Vice President. Spurred legislative hearings on tax reform bills. Coiner of “Citizen’s Dividend” and “geonomics”, used by CNBC and Middlebury College.

Ingrid Severson

Ingrid Severson is a Permaculture Designer and ARCSA Accredited, rainwater harvesting designer and builder. She is a co-founder of DIG Cooperative Inc., where she served as a project manager, designer and builder for five years. Prior to her involvement with DIG, she co-founded and worked with Bay Localize for three years.

Colin Miller

Prior to joining Bay Localize and the Local Clean Energy Alliance as Program Manager, Colin worked as a bilingual teacher in East Oakland and at the Greenlining Institute, Urban Habitat and the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights working to advance environmental, racial and economic justice and sustainability.

Kendra Shanley

Kendra is the co-founder of Bay Bucks, a business barter network and local currency for the Bay Area. She is interested creating a new monetary "operating system" to drive just and sustainable local economies.

Aaron Lehmer-Chang is an activist, writer, social entrepreneur, music addict, and lover of nature. He co-manages House Kombucha, a family-owned, local green business founded by his wife, Rana Lehmer-Chang. He co-founded Bay Localize, a local community-development nonprofit, and serves on its Steering Committee. He also serves on the Oakland Food Policy Council's Advisory Board and Earth Island Institute’s Program Committee.

Barbara Jefferson

Barbara Jefferson is an experience designer, facilitator, and student, specializing in transformative learning experiences for social change makers and the Work That Reconnects. Barbara thrives on creating “brave spaces” for individuals to strengthen their resilient brilliance, and take steps toward courageous leadership in their communities. B is co-founder of Brave Space and a full time student of urban ecological design.

Alli Chagi-Starr

Alli Chagi-Starr is the Director of BALLE's Local Economy Fellowship program. Prior to joining BALLE, she founded ArtiVISTA Consulting, where she worked with national and community leaders to amplify the impact of campaigns and events for social and environmental transformation. Chagi-Starr supported the launch of the green jobs movement at Ella Baker Center for Human Rights (EBC) and then Green For All, where she served as the Green Business Partnerships Manager and the Sr. Community Engagement Strategist.

Or Rabinowiz

Or is a Permaculturalist who is passionate about collective transformation toward positive social change. At Planting Justice, he is a co-manager of the Transform Your Yard Program, an Educator with the ongoing programming in San Quentin Prison and Stanislaus Juvenile Detention, and a member of the Board of Directors. He also co-facilitates workshops in the Be Present Empowerment Model, a tool for dialogue, developing effecting relationships and addressing the impacts of race, gender, power, class, and other divides on our personal and collective well being.

Loni Gray

Loni helps communities, districts, and cities create affordable and responsive housing by embracing the New Economy's wisdom of sharing. She catalyzes teams who reshape buildings into more connected, and more affordable units, called ZO's. ZOdwellingstm encourages collaborative housing design in all its forms to recreate diverse, vibrant cities where healthy housing is available for all its citizens.

Jay Standish

Sustainable MBA. Jay is the co-founder of OpenDoor, a company that creates community living spaces. Jay is a co-founder of Hub Seattle, a renowned worldwide co-working franchise. Jay holds an MBA in Sustainable Systems from Bainbridge Graduate Institute, the nation's first and foremost business school dedicated to sustainability, where he focused on sustainable finance and the emerging “Sharing Economy.”

Ben Provan

Sustainable MBA & Mechanical Engineer. Ben is an engineer, entrepreneur and sustainable MBA. Along with Jay, he attended Bainbridge Graduate Institute, where he focused on Local Living Economies & the Sustainable Built Environment, studying under Living Building Challenge founder Jason McLennan.

Paige Peterson

Paige currently spearheads outreach for MaidSafe technology and development in the US and also organizes the San Francisco Bitcoin Meetup. She is inspired by the evolution of natural systems and is interested in technology which mimics these processes to remove central points of failure. MaidSafe is building a decentralized, open-source Internet protocol with privacy, security and freedom at it's core.

Timothy Roscoe Carter

Timothy Roscoe Carter is a former legal aid attorney who has represented over 850 disability claimants in hearings before the Social Security Administration. He has published articles in support of a basic income in the San Francisco Daily Journal, Free Liberal, and Basic Income News.

Angela Sevin

Angela Sevin is co-director of Pathways to Resilience (an Alameda County Innovations in Re-entry project) and a director of The Green Life peer education class at San Quentin state prison. Since the mid 90s, she has worked toward creating educational environments inclusive of social change ideals and activist principles balanced with the pursuit of individual empowerment. Angela envisions a future where creativity and learning are nurtured in a way that integrates sustainable and regenerative ways of being.

Jose Corona

Jose Corona is the Chief Executive Officer of Inner City Advisors, a leading economic development non-profit that educates, advises, and invests in small business owners, improving communities by providing good local jobs to people with high barriers to employment. He is also a founding director and secretary of the Board of ICA’s affiliate investment fund, Fund Good Jobs, Inc, which he helped launch in 2013. Prior to ICA, Jose served as development director at Mission Economic Development Agency (MEDA).

Jerry Elster

Jerry Elster is a co-facilitator with Green Life Circle. A formerly incarcerated African American man who was raised in South Central Los Angeles. He is the Healing Justice Coordinator for American Friends Service Committee (AFSC). Jerry is the founder of NMT/The Ripple Effects, a nonprofit whose mission is "to stem the tide of violence and detrimental behavior."

Gayle McLaughlin

Gayle McLaughlin was elected as Mayor of Richmond in 2006 and was re-elected in 2010. Her focus on a healthy environment has moved the City forward greatly with pollution reduction, solar installation and a nationally-acclaimed green job training program. Mayor McLaughlin is perhaps best known around the country for the Richmond CARES program that is seeking to help struggling homeowners to avoid foreclosure with the City’s potential use of eminent domain.

Junious Williams

Junious Williams is CEO of Urban Strategies Council, a social impact organization using research, policy, collaboration, innovation and advocacy to achieve equity and social justice. He has worked on community building and development efforts in Oakland and across the country. He is co-founder and Board Chair for the Oakland Community Land Trust. He also serves as Co-Chair of the Steering Committee for the Oakland Emerald Cities Collaborative, a national effort aimed at large-scale urban building energy retrofit with high road employment opportunities.

David Ralston

David Ralston works for the City of Oakland’s Department of Economic and Workforce Development managing neighborhood-based infrastructure projects and leading citywide greenway/“foodway” visioning efforts as part of Oakland’s climate action and healthy city goals. David holds a joint master’s in city-planning/architecture and a doctorate in urban geography (methods of assessing urban water and sustainability); serves as an adjunct faculty of environmental management at Merritt College and sits on the Oakland Food Policy Council.

Sasha Werblin

Sasha Werblin is an Oakland native who brings extensive nonprofit, public sector and campaign experience to the Economic Equity team. As Economic Equity Director at Greenlining Institute, she works to build wealth, assets, and financial sustainability in communities of color. Her policy experience began as Greenlining’s Sustainable Development Fellow, successfully lobbying AB 624 (Coto), the Foundation Diversity and Transparency Act, through the state Assembly and organizing communities of color across the state to ensure that large California foundations equitably support minority-led nonprofits.

Alicia Polak

Alicia Polak is the Executive Director of The Bread Project. She has worked across the globe to assist others in transferring her knowledge of building replicable, scalable models to solve one of the world’s most pressing societal problems – unemployment. Alicia is a Fulbright Scholar, and works as a consultant and guest lecturer at Wharton’s School of Business in the Societal Wealth Program in the field of Social Entrepreneurship. Her work has been featured in CNN Headline News “Small & Global” and in publications such as The Financial Times, Glamour (South Africa), O, the Oprah Magazine (South Africa), and Business 2.0.

Fedor Ovchinnikov

Fedor Ovchinnikov is a Co-Founder of the Institute for Evolutionary Leadership – an emerging community of practice that supports change makers in designing new social realities to catalyze co-creation of a just, sustainable, and flourishing world. As a consultant, facilitator, volunteer leader, and entrepreneur Fedor has worked on helping organizations and communities address complex challenges that make conventional leadership models fail, as well as on bridging the gap between theory and practice in leadership, collaboration, and management.

Manuel Manga

Manuel Manga is a Co-Founder of the Institute for Evolutionary Leadership – an emerging community of practice that supports change makers in designing new social realities to catalyze co-creation of a just, sustainable, and flourishing world. As an organizational consultant, facilitator, and leadership coach he has worked throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico, Latin America, Africa, India, Asia, Middle East, and Europe to both private and non-profit organizations.

Tommy Mierzwinski

Tommy Mierzwinski is an entrepreneur and founder of Two Jacks Denim in Uptown Oakland, an all-U.S.-made urban menswear shop specializing in artisanal raw selvedge denim. He envisions a diverse economy in Oakland, in which light industrial businesses supply goods to local retailers and wholesalers, and create sustainable jobs. Without a manufacturing base, he believes cities like Oakland can fall victim to the “amenity paradox,” i.e., the amenities that draw people here soon make it unaffordable for them.

Kevin Bayuk

Kevin works at the intersection of ecology and economy where permaculture design meets cooperative organizations intent on meeting human needs while enhancing the conditions conducive to all life. He is a partner with LIFT accelerating social enterprises. He also frequently facilitates classes, workshops, speaks and provides one-on-one mentoring as a founding partner of the Urban Permaculture Institute San Francisco. He is as fluent with information technology as with perennial polyculture agroforestry.

Anne Griffith

Anne Griffith supports Enterprise Community Partners’ work in public housing both locally and nationally. She also provides technical assistance to the City of San Francisco Mayor’s Office of Housing and Community Development, the San Francisco Housing Authority, and local development and service-focused teams engaged in redeveloping and serving public and formerly public housing developments. Anne serves on a number of local housing and community development boards, is a former real estate attorney and was the former director of the Oakland Community Land Trust.

Kevin Tindall

Kevin Tindall is a facilitator of the Green Life Healing Circles, a component of the Pathways to Resilience re-entry program. Kevin’s experience of learning and adapting to situations of hardship and the criminal punishment system has led him to a life of practicing restorative justice values and principles. His current vision includes the opening of a restorative justice house that will provide a home and safe space for formerly incarcerated people with the purpose of offering them the opportunity to heal and bring about a change in their lives as well as that of our community.

Elana Isaacs

Elana Isaacs is a facilitator with 20 years of experience designing innovative and embodied leadership programs for personal, organizational, and social transformation. She is currently co-developing the series "Beyond the Culture of Separation: Whiteness and the Emerging Stories of Our Humanity" through Impact Hub Oakland. Clients and partners include Urban Habitat, Bill Baren Coaching, Eden Health Systems, Big Brothers Big Sisters, CIIS, Tehiyah Day School and Destiny Arts.

Co-Founder of Credibles, a new community-funding service for local food businesses. (If you eat, you’re an investor.) As a co-leader and investor with Slow Money Northern California, Arno has led multiple investments in Bay Area food ventures. In his San Francisco neighborhood, he co-founded the buy-local currency Bernal Bucks. Arno is easily distracted by new ice cream flavors and typefaces. For updates: @ahesse.

Erin Kilmer Neel

Erin Kilmer Neel is passionate about building a more humane, equitable and sustainable world by changing the way we interact with money and do business. She is Chief Impact Officer at Beneficial State Foundation, a cutting edge foundation in Oakland, CA, that is the sole shareholder of a triple-bottom line community bank. She is also Executive Director of Sustainable Business Alliance, and a 2013-14 Local Economy BALLE New Economy fellow; she is thrilled to be working through those organizations on the Oakland Well-Being in Business Lab.

Danny Beesley

Danny Beesley is designing and operating FabLabs in schools throughout the bay area. These Labs create opportunities for investigation and inquiry across disciplines, introducing students to the technologies, tools and techniques driving the resurgence in manufacturing taking place across our nation and the world. These hands-on learning opportunities provide students with essential tools for engaging in the local manufacturing economy.

Matthew Johnson

Matthew Johnson is a co-founder/partner at SUPERDUPERSTUDIO, a multi-disciplinary design and manufacturing firm. He is experienced in product design and development, as well as graphic design. Matthew studied Architecture at Cooper Union, Art History at Grinnell College and recently received his MFA in Design from California College of the Arts (CCA). Matt’s current work questions how digital modeling and fabrication processes might disrupt fordist strategies for mass manufacture.

Christopher Yamane

Born and raised in Honolulu, Hawaii, Christopher Yamane is a co-founder/partner at SUPERDUPERSTUDIO. Chris comes from a background in venetian glassblowing and frequently employs a variety of programming languages such as processing and rhinoscript as a way to design physical objects and systems. Chris studied sculpture at Brown University, glass at RISD, and is a recent graduate of the MFA Design program at California College of the Arts (CCA).

Hiroko Kurihara

Hiroko Kurihara launched the 25th St. Collective (25C) in the arts district of Oakland as a sustainable business incubator, currently housing 7 sewn goods artisan producers with on-site prototyping and small run production. 25C’s mission is to bring good livelihoods to Oaklanders in the local slow food and slow fabrics industries. Hiroko is also working with the City of Oakland to formalize Oakland Makers, an organization she co-founded in 2012 that supports the growth of a diverse creative economy in Oakland.

Antoine Moore

Antoine Moore is Founder and Principal Consultant of Catalyst for Growth, a coaching, training and consulting practice that targets cultural change makers. Antoine is at heart a people developer, always preoccupied with the question of how to create contexts where people are able to bring their best forward. As consultant, facilitator, and “sociocultural architect”, Antoine has a strong interest in fostering community dialogue and collaborative projects that target reinventing our social systems and pioneering new societal institutions.

Gerardo Omar Marin

Gera is a peace-maker, traditional mexican healing artist, and unity generator from El Paso, Tx border of Juarez, Chihuahua. He mentors young leaders in justice and equity movements in strengthening their love, creativity, and inner-reslience. Through his service as Co-Director of Rooted in Community National Youth transformation and Food Justice Leadership Network in Oakland, CA, he coordinates trainings and events for multi-cultural movement building that is rooted in universal indigenous earth-based practices, mind-body-spirit harmony, and playful joy.

Drew Little

Drew Little is a tech social entrepreneur with a focus on digital makerspace development that's grounded in new economics and gamification. He's the founder of Producia, a digital makerspace platform for the sharing economy, and the author of "The Producism Manifesto: Capitalism 4.0 - A New Game for a New Economy."

Yejide Ankobia

Yejide Ankobia is Program Manager for the Restorative Community Conferencing Program of Community Works West. She comes to this conference with years of RJ experience having worked as Dean of Restorative Discipline at Castlemont High School in East Oakland, and as a trainer in Oakland, Hayward and Vallejo unified school districts.

Justin is the co-founder of BlueSprout, a new factory in Oakland focused on rapid prototyping with digitial fabrication tools. He wants Oakland to have a thriving manufacturing base.

Jeffrey Mcgrew

Jeffrey has spent 18 years in the design and construction industry. He is a co-founder of BlueSprout, a new tech factory in Oakland, and co-founder of Because We Can, a design-build architecture studio. He is an award-winning speaker and industry leader in the use of digital fabrication on both a small scale for bespoke products and on a large scale for building construction, and even brought the first CNC machine to the first Maker Faire.

Robbie Clark

Robbie Clark is the Housing Rights Campaign lead Organizer at Causa Justa:: Just Cause (CJJC). Robbie was born and raised in Oakland and brings a wealth of knowledge about the city’s residents and neighborhoods. At Causa Justa, Robbie has led successful fights to keep water on for tenants, co-authored a report on the Public Health Impacts of Foreclosure, Rebuilding Neighborhoods, Restoring Health, and most recently lead the formation of the Tenant Justice Campaign that won changes in Oakland's rent regulations.

Alison Lingane

Alison Lingane is Co-founder of Project Equity, an Oakland-based nonprofit. Project Equity was founded on the belief that worker owned and controlled businesses are a key component of the New Economy, and critical for building economic resiliency within our communities. Alison focused her early career on micro-enterprise development with urban youth, and in the past 15 years, has held leadership roles in education-based social ventures designed to have human impact at scale, including Benetech, GreatSchools and InsideTrack.

AshEl Eldridge

AshEl Eldridge aka Seasunz, originally from Chicago, now residing in Oakland, is a frontman emcee, vocalist, producer, and the founder of Earth Amplified, a multimedia collective and spiritual activist movement dedicated to social justice, equity, and environmental stewardship. AshEL is also the Northern California Education and Leadership Manager with the Alliance for Climate Education and a Green For All Fellow. He is a co-founder of United Roots – Oakland’s Green Youth Arts and Media Center and the founder of SOS Juice.

Eloisa Serrano

Bay Area native, Eloisa Serrano achieved her BFA in Fashion Design from the Art Institute of California. Since then she has started BayThread.com, a company focused on helping designers with patterns, grading and low minimum production services. Eloisa is inspired by her client’s creativity and has worked on projects from plus size ready to wear to motorcycle accessories. She aspires to continue growing Bay Thread and assist designers by taking their collections to market using local resources.

Region Lewis

Region is a organizer who has been working on issues affecting the community since 2009. In 2011 Region and his family started a farm in East Oakland's Laurel district in their backyard. On the half an acre of land he houses 19 chickens 23 ducks 3 goats and a pig named Pumba. When not on the farm, he is working as an peer mentor and permaculture apprentice for Pathways to Resilience, a program that offers a permaculture certification for formerly incarcerated people.

Farzana Serang

Executive Director of The Cooperative Food Empowerment Directive (CoFED), Farzana is an advocate, entrepreneur, and community developer focused on creating a more just and equitable world through food cooperatives. Her organization, CoFED works with 40 campus communities nationwide to build healthy, resilient, and equitable local economies.

Andy Katz

Andy Katz was elected to the East Bay Municipal Utility District in 2006, representing Ward 4, which includes Albany, Berkeley, El Cerrito, Emeryville, Kensington, and North Oakland. He currently serves as EBMUD Board President. Andy is an environment and workers’ rights attorney, and is a former Chair of Sierra Club California. Prior to his election to the EBMUD Board, he served for five years as a member of the city of Berkeley Zoning Adjustments Board.

Joseph Okafor

Joseph is an associate at private equity firm, Piedmont Partners Group Ventures, assessing potential investments, performing industry and valuation analysis and writing investment recommendations. Prior to joining PPGV, Mr. Okafor helped to foster the growth of early stage start-ups and worked Citco Fund Services as a middle office associate conducting portfolio valuations for hedge fund clients. A proud Cal Poly alum, outside of work you can find Mr. Okafor playing with gadget and volunteering for tech inclusion organizations.

Heather Manchester

Heather Manchester is an educator, trainer and convener who facilitates leadership, community engagement and restorative justice programs using theater locally and internationally. At the core of her work she partners with young people and adults to create spaces for meaningful dialogue and increased educational opportunities, in service of supporting more equitable and resilient communities. With RJOY she collaborates with students and adults to build capacity for student engagement within OUSD’s Restorative Justice work.

Chong Kee Tan has been an activist for 20 years, working in the area of Asian democracy, press freedom, censorship, and — after coming to the United States — in the area of equal rights and sustainability.

Danielle DeRuiter-Williams

Danielle is Senior Program Manager of Leadership Development at Oakland-based Urban Habitat. Her program prepares and places low-income people of color on boards and commissions in the Bay Area to advocate for equity across policies.

Rana Lehmer-Chang

Rana Lehmer-Chang is on the board of the Henry George School of San Francisco and the owner-founder of House Kombucha, a probiotic tea brewery in East Oakland. Rana is a member of the Baha'i Faith.

Additional speakers / performers to be announced soon

Celebrate Oakland's first Living the New Economy Convergence by joining us Friday, Oct 24th for the Oaktown Jubilee. Party with your fellow Convergence participants and other local community members while celebrating the innovative spirit of Oakland with local artists and musicians.

Changing the world is hard work. (Partying with us is not.)

All ticket-holders to the Convergence receive a ticket to this event included in their Convergence pass! For those of you that want to join us just for this special evening, get your tickets here.

Hit the dance floor with MJ's Brass Boppers, the funkiest New Orleans brass band in the Bay Area. With musicians born and raised in NOLA, Mj's Brass Boppers lives and breathes New Orleans second-line music.

Following MJ's is Oakland-based hip-hop powerhouse Raw-G. Born and raised in GDL City Mexico, Raw-G brings deep poetry with a revolutionary state of mind. After establishing herself in Oakland, Raw-G has stepped up her musical career and has performed with big names like KRS-One, Immortal Technique, Dead Prez and more.

The night will be closed out with a collaboration between Raw-G and Dj Steelo of Steelo Entertainment.

Cowrie Village will be hosting Barter to the People! Check out some local art, make an offer, and see what the relationship economy is all about.

Kendra is the co-founder of Bay Bucks, a business barter network and local currency for the Bay Area. She is interested creating a new monetary "operating system" to drive just and sustainable local economies.

Keynote Address
A series of keynote conversations to frame our exploration of the New Economy, starting with a broad perspective on the emergence of a new story, continuing with a discussion of the financial underpinnings of a new economic system, and closing with an exploration of the emerging New Economy here in Oakland.

Charles Eisenstein is an author, public speaker, and self-described "degrowth activist". He is the author of several books including The Ascent of Humanity, Sacred Economics, and The More Beautiful World Our Hearts Know Is Possible.

Ian MacKenzie is an award-winning filmmaker & media activist. His work has appeared in many international publications and film festivals. His focus covers a range of diverse topics & subjects, though all fall under his mission of uncovering and amplifying stories of the emerging paradigm.

Thomas H. Greco, Jr. is widely regarded as a leading authority on monetary and financial innovation, and is a sought-after adviser and speaker at conferences internationally. He is the author of many books, including The End of Money and the Future of Civilization.

Chong Kee Tan has been an activist for 20 years, working in the area of Asian democracy, press freedom, censorship, and — after coming to the United States — in the area of equal rights and sustainability.

Jose Corona is the Chief Executive Officer of Inner City Advisors, a leading economic development non-profit that educates, advises, and invests in small business owners, improving communities by providing good local jobs to people with high barriers to employment. He is also a founding director and secretary of the Board of ICA’s affiliate investment fund, Fund Good Jobs, Inc, which he helped launch in 2013. Prior to ICA, Jose served as development director at Mission Economic Development Agency (MEDA).

Konda is Co-Director and CEO of Impact Hub Oakland. Konda honed her business leadership skills as a Grammy winning artist manager in London, an Academy Award nominated film producer in Hollywood, and an Off Broadway hit theater producer in New York…just to name a few.

Why Money Matters: Local Solutions for a Broken System
Our money system is the operating system of society. By its very design, money demands continuous economic growth and ever-expanding debt. While most of us use money every day, few understand how it is created, how the banking system operates, and how deeply it underpins all aspects of society. Join us in discussing how building a New Economy will require a totally new operating system.

Marco Vangelisti is the founder of Essential Knowledge for Transition, a co-founder of the Slow Money Northern California network, an impact investor and a speaker on the topics of money, economics and finance.

Ben Werner is an entrepreneur in the field of sustainability, focusing in the (re)integration of human culture with ecological systems. As a co-director of Sama Group, Ben is leading a Food Independence Co-Operative, which is enabled by a community currency called the Santa Barbara “Missions”.

Kendra is the co-founder of Bay Bucks, a business barter network and local currency for the Bay Area. She is interested creating a new monetary "operating system" to drive just and sustainable local economies.

Universal Basic Income: A World Without Poverty
An introduction to the idea of a Universal Basic Income – a basic subsistence amount of money to every citizen. Hear both sides of the arguments for and against such a policy, and discuss ways that a Universal Basic Income might be implemented in the Bay Area.

Timothy Roscoe Carter is a former legal aid attorney who has represented over 850 disability claimants in hearings before the Social Security Administration. He has published articles in support of a basic income in the San Francisco Daily Journal, Free Liberal, and Basic Income News.

Inspired to live in a world where everyone thrives, Martin is writing a manifesto on a new economic system called “Unitism”. His previous book “Land: A New Paradigm for a Thriving World” will be published by North Atlantic Books in 2015.

Chong Kee Tan has been an activist for 20 years, working in the area of Asian democracy, press freedom, censorship, and — after coming to the United States — in the area of equal rights and sustainability.

Jeffery Smith edits The Progress Report and was a regular contributor at TruthOut. Testified before the Russian Duma and the Madame Senator who became Taiwan's Vice President. Spurred legislative hearings on tax reform bills. Coiner of “Citizen’s Dividend” and “geonomics”, used by CNBC and Middlebury College.

Prosperity for All: The Heart of the Local Economy Movement
Communities need local-focused efforts to ensure that economic development benefits ALL residents and businesses. After decades of single bottom line decisions made in board rooms thousands of miles away from the people who are impacted by them, there is a grassroots upwelling of locally-owned, independent businesses — manufacturers, family farmers, energy providers, community bankers and more — who are taking matters into their own hands, and they are building real prosperity at home, together. At the heart of this work is equity, because we’re all better off when we’re all better off.

So, how best to support entrepreneurship in impacted communities and encourage greater participation in these local efforts? Join Alli Chagi-Starr, BALLE Fellowship Director, Jose Corona, BALLE Fellow 2014 and CEO of Inner City Advisors and Erin Kilmer-Neel, BALLE Fellow 2013 and Director of the East Bay Sustainable Business Alliance for an interactive dialogue about how we can advance our local movements to create economic justice where we live.

Jose Corona is the Chief Executive Officer of Inner City Advisors, a leading economic development non-profit that educates, advises, and invests in small business owners, improving communities by providing good local jobs to people with high barriers to employment. He is also a founding director and secretary of the Board of ICA’s affiliate investment fund, Fund Good Jobs, Inc, which he helped launch in 2013. Prior to ICA, Jose served as development director at Mission Economic Development Agency (MEDA).

Alli Chagi-Starr is the Director of BALLE's Local Economy Fellowship program. Prior to joining BALLE, she founded ArtiVISTA Consulting, where she worked with national and community leaders to amplify the impact of campaigns and events for social and environmental transformation. Chagi-Starr supported the launch of the green jobs movement at Ella Baker Center for Human Rights (EBC) and then Green For All, where she served as the Green Business Partnerships Manager and the Sr. Community Engagement Strategist.

Erin Kilmer Neel is passionate about building a more humane, equitable and sustainable world by changing the way we interact with money and do business. She is Chief Impact Officer at Beneficial State Foundation, a cutting edge foundation in Oakland, CA, that is the sole shareholder of a triple-bottom line community bank. She is also Executive Director of Sustainable Business Alliance, and a 2013-14 Local Economy BALLE New Economy fellow; she is thrilled to be working through those organizations on the Oakland Well-Being in Business Lab.

Community Solutions: A Listening Session
Democratize the public safety agenda! An interactive workshop session where participants engage in image theater (theater of the oppressed inspired) to actively re engage in the policy questions that maintain community and state violence in our communities. Modeled after the work envisioned by Dr Crain, facilitators will expand upon the work of the locally based initiative- the Oakland Listening Sessions and share the model to be used in other cities.

Dr. Crystallee Crain is an educator, author, and entrepreneur that strives to mend the gaps of injustice within institutions and communities. Her work is national in reach, but local in its fluidity as she is based out of Oakland, CA and her hometown of Flint, Michigan. In both communities she works with families impacted by community and state violence.

Elana Isaacs is a facilitator with 20 years of experience designing innovative and embodied leadership programs for personal, organizational, and social transformation. She is currently co-developing the series "Beyond the Culture of Separation: Whiteness and the Emerging Stories of Our Humanity" through Impact Hub Oakland. Clients and partners include Urban Habitat, Bill Baren Coaching, Eden Health Systems, Big Brothers Big Sisters, CIIS, Tehiyah Day School and Destiny Arts.

Inclusivity from the Ground Up: Equity by Design
Creating a space for economic and restorative justice; how do we develop models that are inclusive and democratic by design? A panel discussion and case studies in progress with Ella Baker Center, Planting Justice and Community Works West.

Zachary Norris is the Executive Director of the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights and a former director of the Books Not Bars campaign. Prior to rejoining the organization, Zachary founded and co-directed Justice for Families, a national alliance of family-driven organizations working to end our nation’s youth incarceration epidemic.

Danielle is Senior Program Manager of Leadership Development at Oakland-based Urban Habitat. Her program prepares and places low-income people of color on boards and commissions in the Bay Area to advocate for equity across policies.

Gera is a peace-maker, traditional mexican healing artist, and unity generator from El Paso, Tx border of Juarez, Chihuahua. He mentors young leaders in justice and equity movements in strengthening their love, creativity, and inner-reslience. Through his service as Co-Director of Rooted in Community National Youth transformation and Food Justice Leadership Network in Oakland, CA, he coordinates trainings and events for multi-cultural movement building that is rooted in universal indigenous earth-based practices, mind-body-spirit harmony, and playful joy.

Or is a Permaculturalist who is passionate about collective transformation toward positive social change. At Planting Justice, he is a co-manager of the Transform Your Yard Program, an Educator with the ongoing programming in San Quentin Prison and Stanislaus Juvenile Detention, and a member of the Board of Directors. He also co-facilitates workshops in the Be Present Empowerment Model, a tool for dialogue, developing effecting relationships and addressing the impacts of race, gender, power, class, and other divides on our personal and collective well being.

Roots of the New Economy
What's so new about the New Economy? Many New Economy practices have existed for centuries by various names in communities around the world. How does this knowledge change our perspective as we apply timeless principles to modern challenges?

Paloma is the founder of Saphichay, an indigenous rights and ancestral reconnection organization with hubs in Peru and California. Paloma’s work is focused on keeping traditional practices alive & bridging mestizo and indigenous communities in order to support the survival of indigenous communities.

Barbara Jefferson is an experience designer, facilitator, and student, specializing in transformative learning experiences for social change makers and the Work That Reconnects. Barbara thrives on creating “brave spaces” for individuals to strengthen their resilient brilliance, and take steps toward courageous leadership in their communities. B is co-founder of Brave Space and a full time student of urban ecological design.

Charles Eisenstein is an author, public speaker, and self-described "degrowth activist". He is the author of several books including The Ascent of Humanity, Sacred Economics, and The More Beautiful World Our Hearts Know Is Possible.

YaVette Holts heads up Cowrie Village, a Berkeley/Oakland initiative that challenges our attitudes about money and our reflexive reliance on dollars as the be all to having our needs met. Cowrie Village is building tools to help the East Bay redefine its wealth with three main projects: cash free barter events, the online barter utility Saltmine, and Rootical Gathering (a old fashioned gifting circle with roots in traditional sou sou).

Show Me the Money! Local Financing Alternatives
Explore how communities can invest their money in local, social and sustainable businesses. Learn about direct public offerings, local investing clubs, crowdfunding and other ways communities can unlock previously inaccessible sources of grassroots capital.

Jenny has over eighteen years of experience as an attorney for and creator of social enterprises. She is the CEO of Cutting Edge Capital, a consulting firm that helps social ventures raise capital in alignment with their goals and values.

Erin Kilmer Neel is passionate about building a more humane, equitable and sustainable world by changing the way we interact with money and do business. She is Chief Impact Officer at Beneficial State Foundation, a cutting edge foundation in Oakland, CA, that is the sole shareholder of a triple-bottom line community bank. She is also Executive Director of Sustainable Business Alliance, and a 2013-14 Local Economy BALLE New Economy fellow; she is thrilled to be working through those organizations on the Oakland Well-Being in Business Lab.

Executive Director, RE-volv. Andreas is a strong renewable energy supporter and the founder of RE-volv, a nonprofit organization using crowdfunding to seed a revolving fund that builds solar energy projects for community-serving organizations.

Executive Director, RE-volv. Andreas is a strong renewable energy supporter and the founder of RE-volv, a nonprofit organization using crowdfunding to seed a revolving fund that builds solar energy projects for community-serving organizations.

Co-Founder of Credibles, a new community-funding service for local food businesses. (If you eat, you’re an investor.) As a co-leader and investor with Slow Money Northern California, Arno has led multiple investments in Bay Area food ventures. In his San Francisco neighborhood, he co-founded the buy-local currency Bernal Bucks. Arno is easily distracted by new ice cream flavors and typefaces. For updates: @ahesse.

Peer to Peer 2.0: Re-thinking Technology, Investment, and Sharing
Technology platforms have made it easier than ever to share a room, a ride, resources and more. What are the opportunities in technology and investment that will have an impact on what the next generation of peer to peer companies look like?

Sarah Filley is Cofounder and Executive Director of Popuphood and Chief Marketing Officer for OppSites. She is a local economic development strategist, and public speaker on urban innovation, creative placemaking and retail trends.

Morgan Fitzgibbons is the co-founder of the Wigg Party, [freespace], the Urban Eating League and NOW!, in addition to authoring The Revolution Will Be Organized. He teaches Environmental Studies at the University of San Francisco.

Paige currently spearheads outreach for MaidSafe technology and development in the US and also organizes the San Francisco Bitcoin Meetup. She is inspired by the evolution of natural systems and is interested in technology which mimics these processes to remove central points of failure. MaidSafe is building a decentralized, open-source Internet protocol with privacy, security and freedom at it's core.

Drew Little is a tech social entrepreneur with a focus on digital makerspace development that's grounded in new economics and gamification. He's the founder of Producia, a digital makerspace platform for the sharing economy, and the author of "The Producism Manifesto: Capitalism 4.0 - A New Game for a New Economy."

Beyond the Bottom Line: Business Models as Vehicles for Change
Join an honest discussion about corporate structure and its implications for funding, access, attention, partnership and the legacy of a business. Learn about alternative business models that promote local wealth creation, shared ownership and prosperity for all.

Kevin works at the intersection of ecology and economy where permaculture design meets cooperative organizations intent on meeting human needs while enhancing the conditions conducive to all life. He is a partner with LIFT accelerating social enterprises. He also frequently facilitates classes, workshops, speaks and provides one-on-one mentoring as a founding partner of the Urban Permaculture Institute San Francisco. He is as fluent with information technology as with perennial polyculture agroforestry.

Ryan Honeyman is a sustainability consultant, executive coach, keynote speaker, and author of The B Corp Handbook: How to Use Business as a Force for Good (Berrett-Koehler Publishers, October 2014), the world’s first book on B Corporations.

Rani Croager is co-founder of Uptima Business Bootcamp, a member-owned business accelerator based in Oakland. Uptima supports entrepreneurs in lauching, going to market, funding and scaling their businesses, and encourages them to think holistically about the role of their business in the community.

From Punitive to Restorative: Justice as a Pathway to Healing
"Hurt people hurt people." and "Healed people heal people". Through an experiential restorative justice process and dialogue, a community can come together and heal from the impacts of social inequities.

Jerry Elster is a co-facilitator with Green Life Circle. A formerly incarcerated African American man who was raised in South Central Los Angeles. He is the Healing Justice Coordinator for American Friends Service Committee (AFSC). Jerry is the founder of NMT/The Ripple Effects, a nonprofit whose mission is "to stem the tide of violence and detrimental behavior."

Or is a Permaculturalist who is passionate about collective transformation toward positive social change. At Planting Justice, he is a co-manager of the Transform Your Yard Program, an Educator with the ongoing programming in San Quentin Prison and Stanislaus Juvenile Detention, and a member of the Board of Directors. He also co-facilitates workshops in the Be Present Empowerment Model, a tool for dialogue, developing effecting relationships and addressing the impacts of race, gender, power, class, and other divides on our personal and collective well being.

Kevin Tindall is a facilitator of the Green Life Healing Circles, a component of the Pathways to Resilience re-entry program. Kevin’s experience of learning and adapting to situations of hardship and the criminal punishment system has led him to a life of practicing restorative justice values and principles. His current vision includes the opening of a restorative justice house that will provide a home and safe space for formerly incarcerated people with the purpose of offering them the opportunity to heal and bring about a change in their lives as well as that of our community.

Angela Sevin is co-director of Pathways to Resilience (an Alameda County Innovations in Re-entry project) and a director of The Green Life peer education class at San Quentin state prison. Since the mid 90s, she has worked toward creating educational environments inclusive of social change ideals and activist principles balanced with the pursuit of individual empowerment. Angela envisions a future where creativity and learning are nurtured in a way that integrates sustainable and regenerative ways of being.

Can Sharing Close the Wealth Gap? A Series of Case Studies
Numerous studies have shown that the wealth gap in America is larger today than it has ever been. The sharing economy has enormous potential to reverse this trend. Learn from local leaders about tangible business solutions that support a thriving and inclusive economy.

Executive Director, Sustainable Economies Law Center. Janelle is a lawyer, advocate, writer, and cartoonist focused on creating a more just and equitable world through cooperatives, sharing, urban agriculture, shared housing, local currencies, and community-supported enterprises.

Alison Lingane is Co-founder of Project Equity, an Oakland-based nonprofit. Project Equity was founded on the belief that worker owned and controlled businesses are a key component of the New Economy, and critical for building economic resiliency within our communities. Alison focused her early career on micro-enterprise development with urban youth, and in the past 15 years, has held leadership roles in education-based social ventures designed to have human impact at scale, including Benetech, GreatSchools and InsideTrack.

The Future of Value Exchange: Operating System for a New Society
How can value be exchanged outside of using the dollar? We’ll consider the design and potential impact of alternative currency systems like mutual credit, cryptocurrencies, and distributed exchange systems, and address challenges to their adoption and success.

Ryan was born and raised in Stanford territory, but is a proud Cal Bear. His studies in Ancient Greek civilization miraculously led to roles in Android at Google, where he learned a thing or two about the mobile app business. On a good day you'll find him reviewing the box score of yesterday's Giants victory. Ryan is the Developer Relations Manager of RippleLab.

Chong Kee Tan has been an activist for 20 years, working in the area of Asian democracy, press freedom, censorship, and — after coming to the United States — in the area of equal rights and sustainability.

Thomas H. Greco, Jr. is widely regarded as a leading authority on monetary and financial innovation, and is a sought-after adviser and speaker at conferences internationally. He is the author of many books, including The End of Money and the Future of Civilization.

Mapping the Landscape: Where are we Now and How Did we Get Here?
What policies and pressures have shaped Bay Area housing and neighborhoods into their current states? What are some of the biggest challenges facing Bay Area residents and impacting their housing decisions? Who are the stakeholders defining our neighborhoods? This session will explore contemporary housing history/movements in the region and assess the efficacy of past housing interventions while exploring what's on the horizon in the effort to create fair, safe, affordable neighborhoods.

Danielle is Senior Program Manager of Leadership Development at Oakland-based Urban Habitat. Her program prepares and places low-income people of color on boards and commissions in the Bay Area to advocate for equity across policies.

Action for Equitable Access: Tools and Case Studies
Housing advocates, local government, residents, and the business community are working together to ensure more equitable and accessible housing options while holding the line against displacement. This session will share tools and stories from the front lines including rent control efforts, community benefits agreements, and much more!

Sasha Werblin is an Oakland native who brings extensive nonprofit, public sector and campaign experience to the Economic Equity team. As Economic Equity Director at Greenlining Institute, she works to build wealth, assets, and financial sustainability in communities of color. Her policy experience began as Greenlining’s Sustainable Development Fellow, successfully lobbying AB 624 (Coto), the Foundation Diversity and Transparency Act, through the state Assembly and organizing communities of color across the state to ensure that large California foundations equitably support minority-led nonprofits.

Junious Williams is CEO of Urban Strategies Council, a social impact organization using research, policy, collaboration, innovation and advocacy to achieve equity and social justice. He has worked on community building and development efforts in Oakland and across the country. He is co-founder and Board Chair for the Oakland Community Land Trust. He also serves as Co-Chair of the Steering Committee for the Oakland Emerald Cities Collaborative, a national effort aimed at large-scale urban building energy retrofit with high road employment opportunities.

The Collaborative Living Experiment: Co-Living and Collaborative Ownership
Living with others can provide opportunities for forming community and deepening social interactions. Can living in community also provide new opportunities for shared ownership and affordable housing? How can co-living spaces amplify projects that improve neighborhoods, and reduce environmental impact? In this session, learn how innovators are converting existing spaces to community living experiments that go beyond simply sharing a house.

Sustainable MBA & Mechanical Engineer. Ben is an engineer, entrepreneur and sustainable MBA. Along with Jay, he attended Bainbridge Graduate Institute, where he focused on Local Living Economies & the Sustainable Built Environment, studying under Living Building Challenge founder Jason McLennan.

Sustainable MBA. Jay is the co-founder of OpenDoor, a company that creates community living spaces. Jay is a co-founder of Hub Seattle, a renowned worldwide co-working franchise. Jay holds an MBA in Sustainable Systems from Bainbridge Graduate Institute, the nation's first and foremost business school dedicated to sustainability, where he focused on sustainable finance and the emerging “Sharing Economy.”

Director of Organizational Resilience, Sustainable Economies Law Center. As a writer, activist, educator, and lawyer-in-training, Chris is passionate about cultivating more democratic and place-based models for community resilience.

Loni helps communities, districts, and cities create affordable and responsive housing by embracing the New Economy's wisdom of sharing. She catalyzes teams who reshape buildings into more connected, and more affordable units, called ZO's. ZOdwellingstm encourages collaborative housing design in all its forms to recreate diverse, vibrant cities where healthy housing is available for all its citizens.

Land as Commons: Harnessing Its Community Value and Expanding People's Access
With the cost of land skyrocketing, how can we harness this community-generated value to benefit everyone? And what land use models and tax structures could help facilitate people's access? This session brings together social entrepreneurs, land value tax advocates, and public land access organizers to highlight strategies to reclaim our common natural heritage.

Max Cadji is currently a member of the Oakland Climate Action Committee's Edible Parks Task Force, a founding member of the North Oakland Restorative Justice Council and an organizer with the Phat Beets Produce, a food justice collective in North Oakland. Max has an extensive background in the struggle for food sovereignty on both a local and international level. His work explores the intersections of food justice and gentrification with a focus on building community safety models based on principals of restorative justice.

Rebecca Kaplan is your city councilmember. Elected in 2008 and re-elected in 2012 as councilmember at-large, she represents all of Oakland. Before joining the City Council, she served as your elected director on the AC Transit board and worked as housing rights attorney in Oakland.

Aaron Lehmer-Chang is an activist, writer, social entrepreneur, music addict, and lover of nature. He co-manages House Kombucha, a family-owned, local green business founded by his wife, Rana Lehmer-Chang. He co-founded Bay Localize, a local community-development nonprofit, and serves on its Steering Committee. He also serves on the Oakland Food Policy Council's Advisory Board and Earth Island Institute’s Program Committee.

The Food Justice Economy: Ending Hunger and Creating Local Opportunities
Why does hunger persist amidst vast wealth in America? And what can be done to close the gap between those with ready access to healthy, sustainable foods and those with only several dollars a day to feed their families? This session brings together food justice advocates, workforce development leaders, and anti-poverty organizers to share their perspectives and experiences building a food economy that works for all.

AshEl Eldridge aka Seasunz, originally from Chicago, now residing in Oakland, is a frontman emcee, vocalist, producer, and the founder of Earth Amplified, a multimedia collective and spiritual activist movement dedicated to social justice, equity, and environmental stewardship. AshEL is also the Northern California Education and Leadership Manager with the Alliance for Climate Education and a Green For All Fellow. He is a co-founder of United Roots – Oakland’s Green Youth Arts and Media Center and the founder of SOS Juice.

Region is a organizer who has been working on issues affecting the community since 2009. In 2011 Region and his family started a farm in East Oakland's Laurel district in their backyard. On the half an acre of land he houses 19 chickens 23 ducks 3 goats and a pig named Pumba. When not on the farm, he is working as an peer mentor and permaculture apprentice for Pathways to Resilience, a program that offers a permaculture certification for formerly incarcerated people.

Alicia Polak is the Executive Director of The Bread Project. She has worked across the globe to assist others in transferring her knowledge of building replicable, scalable models to solve one of the world’s most pressing societal problems – unemployment. Alicia is a Fulbright Scholar, and works as a consultant and guest lecturer at Wharton’s School of Business in the Societal Wealth Program in the field of Social Entrepreneurship. Her work has been featured in CNN Headline News “Small & Global” and in publications such as The Financial Times, Glamour (South Africa), O, the Oprah Magazine (South Africa), and Business 2.0.

David Ralston works for the City of Oakland’s Department of Economic and Workforce Development managing neighborhood-based infrastructure projects and leading citywide greenway/“foodway” visioning efforts as part of Oakland’s climate action and healthy city goals. David holds a joint master’s in city-planning/architecture and a doctorate in urban geography (methods of assessing urban water and sustainability); serves as an adjunct faculty of environmental management at Merritt College and sits on the Oakland Food Policy Council.

Director of Organizational Resilience, Sustainable Economies Law Center. As a writer, activist, educator, and lawyer-in-training, Chris is passionate about cultivating more democratic and place-based models for community resilience.

Water-Wise Solutions for a Drought-Stricken State
As California's drought continues to take its toll, what can we as residents and communities do to conserve precious water resources? What are water agencies doing to help promote water use efficiency and fair allocation of scarce supplies? This session brings together public agency officials, efficiency entrepreneurs, and water resilience organizers to explore ways we can all work together to secure continued flow of perhaps our most vital resource.

Prior to joining Bay Localize and the Local Clean Energy Alliance as Program Manager, Colin worked as a bilingual teacher in East Oakland and at the Greenlining Institute, Urban Habitat and the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights working to advance environmental, racial and economic justice and sustainability.

Ingrid Severson is a Permaculture Designer and ARCSA Accredited, rainwater harvesting designer and builder. She is a co-founder of DIG Cooperative Inc., where she served as a project manager, designer and builder for five years. Prior to her involvement with DIG, she co-founded and worked with Bay Localize for three years.

Keep it Local: Jobs and Skills in Manufacturing
What opportunities exist to create good jobs for Oakland within the local manufacturing industry? What are the skills needed and job opportunities for starting your own manufacturing business or getting hired? Learn about the role of local manufacturing in job creation and the nuts and bolts of getting started.

Danny Beesley is designing and operating FabLabs in schools throughout the bay area. These Labs create opportunities for investigation and inquiry across disciplines, introducing students to the technologies, tools and techniques driving the resurgence in manufacturing taking place across our nation and the world. These hands-on learning opportunities provide students with essential tools for engaging in the local manufacturing economy.

Manufacturing Matters: Why Local Production is Essential for a Healthy Economy
In 2011, the US Council on Competitiveness launched an initiative entitled, "Make: An American Manufacturing Movement", in which it suggested that "a new era of manufacturing excellence offers hope for good jobs, new innovations and a higher standard of living." Get a brief history on local manufacturing in Oakland, the role that manufacturing plays in creating a thriving local economy, and where the opportunities are to get involved.

Justin is the co-founder of BlueSprout, a new factory in Oakland focused on rapid prototyping with digitial fabrication tools. He wants Oakland to have a thriving manufacturing base.

Putting the Pieces Together: Local Manufacturing Case Studies
Hear from local leaders who've established thriving manufacturing businesses. Gain rapid-fire exposure to a number of different models over the course of the hour, sparking your sense of creativity and possibility about what it's possible to make here in our own Bay Area back yard.

Tommy Mierzwinski is an entrepreneur and founder of Two Jacks Denim in Uptown Oakland, an all-U.S.-made urban menswear shop specializing in artisanal raw selvedge denim. He envisions a diverse economy in Oakland, in which light industrial businesses supply goods to local retailers and wholesalers, and create sustainable jobs. Without a manufacturing base, he believes cities like Oakland can fall victim to the “amenity paradox,” i.e., the amenities that draw people here soon make it unaffordable for them.

Born and raised in Honolulu, Hawaii, Christopher Yamane is a co-founder/partner at SUPERDUPERSTUDIO. Chris comes from a background in venetian glassblowing and frequently employs a variety of programming languages such as processing and rhinoscript as a way to design physical objects and systems. Chris studied sculpture at Brown University, glass at RISD, and is a recent graduate of the MFA Design program at California College of the Arts (CCA).

Jeffrey has spent 18 years in the design and construction industry. He is a co-founder of BlueSprout, a new tech factory in Oakland, and co-founder of Because We Can, a design-build architecture studio. He is an award-winning speaker and industry leader in the use of digital fabrication on both a small scale for bespoke products and on a large scale for building construction, and even brought the first CNC machine to the first Maker Faire.

Hiroko Kurihara launched the 25th St. Collective (25C) in the arts district of Oakland as a sustainable business incubator, currently housing 7 sewn goods artisan producers with on-site prototyping and small run production. 25C’s mission is to bring good livelihoods to Oaklanders in the local slow food and slow fabrics industries. Hiroko is also working with the City of Oakland to formalize Oakland Makers, an organization she co-founded in 2012 that supports the growth of a diverse creative economy in Oakland.

Manuel Manga is a Co-Founder of the Institute for Evolutionary Leadership – an emerging community of practice that supports change makers in designing new social realities to catalyze co-creation of a just, sustainable, and flourishing world. As an organizational consultant, facilitator, and leadership coach he has worked throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico, Latin America, Africa, India, Asia, Middle East, and Europe to both private and non-profit organizations.

Fedor Ovchinnikov is a Co-Founder of the Institute for Evolutionary Leadership – an emerging community of practice that supports change makers in designing new social realities to catalyze co-creation of a just, sustainable, and flourishing world. As a consultant, facilitator, volunteer leader, and entrepreneur Fedor has worked on helping organizations and communities address complex challenges that make conventional leadership models fail, as well as on bridging the gap between theory and practice in leadership, collaboration, and management.

Antoine Moore is Founder and Principal Consultant of Catalyst for Growth, a coaching, training and consulting practice that targets cultural change makers. Antoine is at heart a people developer, always preoccupied with the question of how to create contexts where people are able to bring their best forward. As consultant, facilitator, and “sociocultural architect”, Antoine has a strong interest in fostering community dialogue and collaborative projects that target reinventing our social systems and pioneering new societal institutions.

Bring your idea for starting a new* business or project that contributes to an economy that is restorative of people, place and planet and operates according to principles of democracy, justice and appropriate scale. You'll be pitching your idea to participants in the New Economy Challenge to gain their support on developing your idea. Initial pitches should be no more than 60 seconds long and cover your solution, how it contributes to the new economy, how you intend to develop it and who you need to help develop it. Participants in the challenge will vote up 10-12 ideas to be worked on over the remainder of the weekend.

*What do we mean by new? By "new" we mean that you haven't started significant work on the project prior to the hackathon. If it's lived only in your head (or notebooks) and in conversations with others, it's new! If you think of it during a session on Thursday or Friday, it's new! If you've developed a prototype app or website, it's not new. If you've received any funding, it's not new. Our intent is to develop the ideas that grow out of Thursday and Friday's program. If you're not sure whether your ideas meet the pitching criteria, please ask by sending us an email at support@baybucks.com.

Joseph is an associate at private equity firm, Piedmont Partners Group Ventures, assessing potential investments, performing industry and valuation analysis and writing investment recommendations. Prior to joining PPGV, Mr. Okafor helped to foster the growth of early stage start-ups and worked Citco Fund Services as a middle office associate conducting portfolio valuations for hedge fund clients. A proud Cal Poly alum, outside of work you can find Mr. Okafor playing with gadget and volunteering for tech inclusion organizations.

Rani Croager is co-founder of Uptima Business Bootcamp, a member-owned business accelerator based in Oakland. Uptima supports entrepreneurs in lauching, going to market, funding and scaling their businesses, and encourages them to think holistically about the role of their business in the community.

Mark Batson Baril is founder of resologics. Mark is mediator with extensive business, personnel, and manufacturing experience. Mark focuses on managing conflict in businesses so they can thrive. He understands the inner workings and complexities of startups, and established businesses, and has a passion for helping them move from the complexity and costliness of destructive conflict to resolution and understanding. From crisis management via mediation to proactive training and Ombuds services, long-term resolution and productivity is always the focus.

Our emcees and partners will set the stage for the challenge by providing an overview of the rest of the weekend, including judging criteria, prizes, and resources available to participants.

We encourage teams to organically form around the top 10-12 ideas and their needs. Begin working on developing the solutions. Track mentors will be available to assist with market and business strategies.

Kendra is the co-founder of Bay Bucks, a business barter network and local currency for the Bay Area. She is interested creating a new monetary "operating system" to drive just and sustainable local economies.

Angela Sevin is co-director of Pathways to Resilience (an Alameda County Innovations in Re-entry project) and a director of The Green Life peer education class at San Quentin state prison. Since the mid 90s, she has worked toward creating educational environments inclusive of social change ideals and activist principles balanced with the pursuit of individual empowerment. Angela envisions a future where creativity and learning are nurtured in a way that integrates sustainable and regenerative ways of being.

Alison Lingane is Co-founder of Project Equity, an Oakland-based nonprofit. Project Equity was founded on the belief that worker owned and controlled businesses are a key component of the New Economy, and critical for building economic resiliency within our communities. Alison focused her early career on micro-enterprise development with urban youth, and in the past 15 years, has held leadership roles in education-based social ventures designed to have human impact at scale, including Benetech, GreatSchools and InsideTrack.

Neil Planchon is a founding resident of a Cohousing community in the San Francisco Bay Area and has spent the last fifteen years working, volunteering and serving on the board of the Cohousing Association of the US. Neil is passionate about using technology to create community and get some things done more efficiently. As a Co-Active Life and Business coach, he helps people find their own answers and supports them in getting into action. He is a superb networker and community builder who presently serves as Co-Chair of 2.Oakland, on the OpenOakland Code for America brigade, on the OakX steering committee and on the board of his neighborhood association.

Aaron Lehmer-Chang is an activist, writer, social entrepreneur, music addict, and lover of nature. He co-manages House Kombucha, a family-owned, local green business founded by his wife, Rana Lehmer-Chang. He co-founded Bay Localize, a local community-development nonprofit, and serves on its Steering Committee. He also serves on the Oakland Food Policy Council's Advisory Board and Earth Island Institute’s Program Committee.

YaVette Holts heads up Cowrie Village, a Berkeley/Oakland initiative that challenges our attitudes about money and our reflexive reliance on dollars as the be all to having our needs met. Cowrie Village is building tools to help the East Bay redefine its wealth with three main projects: cash free barter events, the online barter utility Saltmine, and Rootical Gathering (a old fashioned gifting circle with roots in traditional sou sou).

Mentors in areas of business strategy, financing, legal, technology and design will be available throughout the remainder of the day to answer questions and explore opportunities for development. Sign up for a 30 minute session with mentors who can assist you in developing your solution.

Steve Crane, Ph.D. is a member of the core faculty and teaches Managerial Finance at Presidio Graduate School. Dr. Crane has over 30 years of experience in designing and implementing sustainable change strategies for social enterprises by aligning financial management, relationship development and organizational behavior. In addition, Dr. Crane serves as a board member and treasurer of Sustainable Business Alliance.

Maya Tobias is Co-Founder of Localwise, an online platform for local business owners to share recommendations of their favorite service providers. Maya holds an MBA from UC Berkeley Haas School of Business and co-founded the Haas Impact Investing Network Community.

Huan Ho is Co-founder of RallyTeam, an employee-driven collaboration platform designed to help large organizations improve productivity, innovation and engagement. Huan is focused on leveraging his technical skills and entrepreneurial drive to help move society forward and is interested in open innovation and collaboration as well as workforce optimization.

Sameer Siruguri is Founder & President of Digital Strategies, a digital agency providing strategic technical advice, digital marketing and web design services for nonprofits and small businesses. Sameer is a partner with and advisor to Code for America and the Silicon Valley Council of Nonprofits, helping them craft solutions to the digital divide. He is also a technology strategist and trainer working with Open Oakland, Hack The Hood, Communinity Technology Network and RailsSchool.

Executive Director, Sustainable Economies Law Center. Janelle is a lawyer, advocate, writer, and cartoonist focused on creating a more just and equitable world through cooperatives, sharing, urban agriculture, shared housing, local currencies, and community-supported enterprises.

Jesse Biroscak is co-founder of BayShare.org, an organization that integrates Collaborative Economy companies and organizations into the fabric of neighborhoods and cities. Outside of BayShare, Jesse works as Director of User Operations at AnyRoad.com and is a dedicated member of the Code for America San Francisco brigade.

Nina Robinson is Managing Director of Portfolio & Capital at Inner City Advisors, a leading economic development non-profit that educates, advises, and invests in small business owners, improving communities by providing good local jobs to people with high barriers to employment. As portfolio manager, Nina is trusted with ensuring that ICA companies fulfill a joint mission to create good jobs and wealth for people with higher barriers to employment. Under her leadership, ICA manages 17 companies and continues to see a significant increase in portfolio performance.

Mark Sutton is a Policy and Program Analyst for the Northern California Community Loan Fund, a community development financial institution that provides financing and technical assistance to nonprofits and cooperatives. Prior to joining NCCLF, Mark worked as a Research Analyst at Impact Assets, a San Francisco-based impact investment firm. Mark has experience in the environmental markets, having worked with the San Francisco Carbon Collaborative and participating in the launch of the carbon market startup Ecoanalytics. He has also been active in sustainable economic development with Green Economy Think Tank, a non-profit that convenes sustainability leaders to catalyze ideas into action to grow the green economy.

Chong Kee Tan has been an activist for 20 years, working in the area of Asian democracy, press freedom, censorship, and — after coming to the United States — in the area of equal rights and sustainability.

Rani Croager is co-founder of Uptima Business Bootcamp, a member-owned business accelerator based in Oakland. Uptima supports entrepreneurs in lauching, going to market, funding and scaling their businesses, and encourages them to think holistically about the role of their business in the community.

Announce winners and prizes. We have selected prizes that will assist you in continuing to develop your new economy solution and turn it into a thriving business. The top 4 winners will receive full scholarships to Uptima Business Bootcamp’s business accelerator program starting in January 2015.

Vendors

Good question. In our ideal world (and in future years), we would love to offer low cost, gift-based, or even free access to the event, making LNE accessible to all. This is the first year that we are hosting this event here in Oakland, and we've learned a lot about what it takes - both logistically and financially - to get a new event off the ground. The hosts of the Living the New Economy Convergence are small, self-funded community organizations that do not receive outside funding support. In order to offer the event this year, and ensure that we can offer it again next year, we have had to make sure we can cover all our costs; we want to be transparent with you about those expenses, and recruit your support and ideas for how to keep future events lower-cost and accessible to all. We hope that this year's event inspires and demonstrates to our community what a gathering like this can do to mobilize a movement, and that we can continue to live more fully into our own New Economy values by continuing to maximize access as we go forward. READ MORE

We want to begin this explanation of transparency by expressing our sincerest gratitude for the sponsorship and grant support we received this year; we are deeply appreciative of the local organizations that shared in our vision and are helping bring LNE to life. We could not do this without you.

We have been able to put many New Economy-aligned principles into practice in the execution of the event. We were fortunate to receive discounted rates from many of our host venues and generous support from local businesses who provided some food and beverage donations. Our incredible organizing team (minus one part-time, paid member) worked entirely on a volunteer basis. We participated in barter exchanges for the tea and coffee at the event and some of the art to be displayed. We drew from the wealth of local wisdom and talent in Oakland (4 of our 77 speakers are from outside the Bay Area) and worked with locally-owned vendors wherever possible. We kept the event to a manageable scale to ensure we would have the capacity and the resources available to sustain it going forward. We have done our best to use the funds from those able to pay for a full-price ticket to support those who could not afford a ticket. We've offered scholarships, steep discounts or other work-trade options to over 30 applicants and volunteers.

There were also many ways in which we encountered the limitations and hard realities of our current system. We were unable to secure a venue donations/sponsorship for all 4 days of the event. The bulk of the cost of feeding people during the event fell to the organizers, and impacted our ticket prices. There were some very real, hard, overhead costs that we simply did not find effective ways to work around and were unable to secure sponsorship in our first year to offset.

Still, we wish we could have done more.

We would love to hear your ideas on making this event more accessible in the future. Have a connection to a venue that could be offered at low-cost? Do you or someone you know have access to extra food, caterers, local restaurants or small purveyors that could donate food? Do you have lights, sound equipment, or expertise that you would like to contribute? Are you great at getting out the word about events like this or have a large network? Do you know of a local foundation or organization that would be interested in funding this kind of event, especially to support a few dedicated staff members? WE NEED YOU!

Thank you for your understanding and support of this event in this critical first year. We hope to work together with our community to make it even better and more accessible every year. Feel free to connect with us to offer comments or ideas at support@baybucks.com. READ LESS

Scholarship Opportunities

It is our intention to make the Living the New Economy Convergence as accessible as possible. The application deadline for scholarships to the 2014 Convergence has passed, and we are pleased to announce that we were able to award over 20 scholarships to deserving candidates who submitted scholarship applications this year. We are still accepting volunteers for the 2014 Convergence. If you would like to join us as a volunteer, please complete the volunteer application as soon as possible.

Sponsors & Partners

A Convergence

This event is designed to be different from any you've attended before. We've pulled from many event styles - hackathons, networking events, festivals, jams - to bring you something unique that has components of each of those. More than a conference, this is a convergence.

We have some very exciting speakers, but you won't just be listening to talks. You'll be meeting and collaborating with other participants and launching project ideas. You'll be learning about all the New Economy activities happening right here in the Bay Area, and being asked to think about how to connect them, while connecting to each other.

Come be part of the first of an annual event that is sure to introduce you to new ideas and new people, and leave you inspired about joining the effort to co-create the New Economy in the Bay Area and beyond.